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International Perspectives
Italy: Furio Ceciliato, managing director of Origamo
Left: Furio and and his wife Erica with one of the new Florever cards.
The year that was: “During 2021 the greeting card market in Italy recovered all the ‘lost steps’ of 2020. People had the opportunity to arrange birthday parties, weddings, graduation parties so the number of greeting cards sold were back to 2019 levels, which was a very good result considering that there were still a lot of restrictions.” Challenges and positives: “The major challenges came from the production difficulties and shipping costs. Everything became more expensive and complicated. The positives are that people are eager to meet and party, with a general desire to return to ‘normal’ life. Plus, we launched our new range, Florever by Origamo, the sales of which have beaten every record for a greeting card range in Italy. It clocked up over a million euros of sales to shops in 45 days!" Card buying habits: “The market is moving up to more expensive cards, with handmade and more precious cards being the ones that are invariably chosen with cheap cards slowly going out of the market.” Hopes and dreams for 2022: “At the end of 2021 I made a dream come true: I founded Origamo Ltd, my UK company. So, our plans for this year are to enter the UK as well as other European markets, extending the successful story of Origamo to new markets, with the same philosophy and attention to ethical production and our charity programmes.”
Ireland: Paul Slater, commercial director of Watermark Cards The year that was: “It has been a strange year in Ireland as the retail sector (nonessential) was effectively closed from Jan 2021 until mid-May 2021. Brexit also had an impact on supply chain as it became more costly and time consuming to bring product in from the UK. Despite these issues the greeting card market has stayed resilient, and demand remains strong for our products. During the period of the lockdown the primary place to buy cards was in multiple/essential retailers and it is hoped that the independent retailer can claim back this business as we move back to normality. Our initial feedback is that Christmas 2021 was positive, and most retailers seemed to trade well and meet or exceed expectations. Geographically city centres have suffered more with the work from home initiatives along with the lack of tourists and general pedestrian traffic. Rural towns on the other hand benefitted from this and local retailers in general performed well. Overall everyday business is probably down 15-20% as the lack of gatherings for milestone birthdays, children’s parties, christenings/communions, confirmations and weddings along with poor Valentine’s and Spring Seasons sales subdued demand.” Challenges and positives: “Brexit caused significant disruption and challenges at the beginning of the year, and it became almost impossible to get
product out of the UK. The cost of moving pallets and parcels increased significantly and we also had to deal with customs clearance costs and increased administration in importing product. Many shipments were delayed for prolonged periods as they were held up in customs because of incorrect paperwork. The supply issues out of China caused delays for many of our publishers and obviously had a knock-on effect on us while the increased cost of shipments has meant some price inflation and going forward this is going to become a bigger issue for us. In a strange sense Brexit was also a positive for us as local retailers who in the past would have bought direct from the UK now sought to source locally as the transaction costs and turnaround times were significantly reduced by dealing with
Left: Watermark’s co-owners Paul Slater and Brian Murtagh. Below: Watermark’s Dublin showroom. The company’s expansion into brokerage in Ireland has been successful.
Watermark Cards. In addition to this we also now supply several other European countries who now seek to source product from EU sources. Our hope is that this period of the pandemic will have further engrained the culture of sending and receiving cards. In 2021 brokerage became a bigger part of business and we currently represent over 15 different publishers in the Irish market. Given the challenges of supply chain arising out of Brexit and the fact that we have our warehouse and distribution facilities in Dublin this has been a significant advantage to us and our retail partners in ensuring a consistent supply of product.” Card buying habits: “Over the course of the past couple of years we have seen greater demand for blank cards as social distancing and restrictions meant that people could not meet in person, and this was a nice way for friends to stay in contact. Over the past year we also experienced a big demand for Sympathy cards as people could not attend funerals and this was a good way for people to sympathise. Hopes and dreams for 2022: “For there to be an end of Covid and a more efficient, reliable and cost-effective supply chain.” PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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